Responding to the new National Audit Office report on the condition of school buildings and environmental sustainability of the school estate, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“These shocking figures lay bare how far short the government is falling in its efforts to ensure school buildings are safe and fit for purpose for children and staff.

“Safety should be a given, but the Department for Education is failing to meet even its own inadequate targets for investment to mitigate the most serious risks, let alone ensure schools are in a reasonable state of repair, with sustainable carbon-zero buildings.

“The government has slashed funding to replace ageing school buildings and for maintenance and repairs over the last decade. At the current rate of progress, to replace or rebuild all schools would take more than 400 years.

“We urgently need the government to come up with proper plans, backed by major new investment, to address these safety concerns while also seizing the opportunity to retrofit and decarbonise the school estate.”

NB: The Department for Education upgraded the risk of a buildings which are approaching the end of their life expectancy collapsing to ‘critical’ and ‘very likely’ in 2021. This followed a big survey of all school buildings it organised between 2017 and 2019.

Research by the House of Commons Library calculates that between 2009-10 and 2021-22, overall capital spending declined by around 37% in cash terms and 50% in real terms.

Just 50 schools a year now benefit from the national School Rebuilding Programme – and at this rate it would take more than 400 years to replace or rebuild all schools.